Malaysia sep exports beat expectations

By Rupa Damodaranrupabanerji@nstp.com.my
MALAYSIAN exports in September 2008 beat market expectations and expanded by 15.1 per cent to RM62.31 billion from a year ago.

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry said imports increased by 11.9 per cent to RM47.78 billion, while a trade surplus of RM14.53 billion was recorded in the month.It exceeded market expectations and a Business Times poll, which had expected exports to grow year-on-year by 8.40 per cent and imports by 7.27 per cent.

Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Mohd Yassin said the third quarter saw a strong export performance, with trade rising 13.9 per cent to RM328.93 billion against the same period last year.Exports rose 16.9 per cent to RM185.25 billion, while imports grew by 10.3 per cent to RM143.69 billion.Major sectors that contributed to the increase in exports in September were refined petroleum products, crude petroleum, liquefied natural gas, palm oil, chemicals and chemical products and electrical and electronic products.

Muhyiddin said exports to the US were at RM7.37 billion in September 2008, down from RM8.7 billion a year ago, due mainly to a decline in E&E products exports.However, exports to the European Union saw a slight increase of 3.7 per cent due to higher exports of chemicals and chemical products, palm oil and crude rubber.

Malaysia's total exports to Asean in September also increased by 26.2 per cent, with China and Japan seeing an increase of 18.4 per cent and 21.3 per cent respectively from Malaysia.

Exports to India surged by 61.9 per cent, thanks to higher exports of crude petroleum and palm oil.For the nine months of the year, exports grew by 16 per cent to RM512.21 billion while imports increased by 9.1 per cent to RM403.19 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of RM109.03 billion.

Countries like Russia saw exports expanding by 90.1 per cent, Brazil by 40 per cent , China by 34.7 per cent and India by 27.2 per cent.

The Middle East also saw a 37.7 per cent surge to RM22.4 billion."The 14.6 per cent decrease in exports of E&E products was the main factor to the decline of Malaysia's total exports to the US. Increases in exports were, however, registered for palm oil, optical and scientific equipment and rubber products," Muhyiddin said, adding that the increase in palm oil demand was related to trans-fats in vegetable oils.

US investment bank Citi said it does not expect the acceleration in September export growth to be sustained.Exports in the rest of Asia already slowed sharply in September."Leading indicators, including the US ISM PMI (Purchasing Managers Index), and the OECD leading indicator, suggest that industrial country demand will likely soften significantly into the first half of 2009," said Citi vice-president for Asia economics and market analysis, Kit Wei Zheng."The pick up in import growth likely reflects rising imports of intermediate and capital goods used to produce exports, while consumer goods imports are slowing," he added.


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